D 153 - Good Old Rusty

Actually a burnt down Ford Focus. I don't know what happened but it just stands in a corner of a parking lot, probably the same place where it ignited.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD1442.
RAW file edited in Lightroom.

What I learned

I wondered if I should leave the colors on this photo or strip it down to b/w. The colors here are strong, not for the composition but for the contrast between elements (green vs orange). However in monochrome the picture was clearer and textures on the car more evident.

D 152 - V-Formation

Decorations in kindergarten.
They looked like a flock of geese in flight to me.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD1442.
RAW edited in Lightroom with custom color mix.

What I learned

If you see a good frame, take the photo right away. Don't leave it for later.

The burdock photo from yesterday couldn't be made today. A crew with overgrown lawnmowers came and shredded it like a lettuce.

D 151 - Burdock Farm

Heavy rains this Spring put certain plants on hype. Burdocks are a good example. They suddenly became ubiquitous and their leaves bigger than usual. This is a lawn in the middle of a housing estate.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD1442.
RAW edited in Lightroom: tone curve, custom red filter, sharpness and crop.

D 150 - The Worst

A T-shirt.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD1442.
RAW edited in Lightroom: crop, levels, sharpness and yellow filter.

What I learned

I felt really good about my photography yesterday. I had to choose some good family photos which I made since December. It was hard for me and my girlfriend to cut down below 120, because each photo left at this point was too good to reject.

I thought that my cheap Chinese tripod was a junk already, but it came out that after fixing all the loose screws and lubricating joints it is works smooth and stable.

D 149 - Flooded in Spring

One of new houses built in my neighborhood. It was built right next to a small park, opposite half-ruined buildings from Running Down the Gutter.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD4015.
RAW edited in Lightroom: contrast, saturation, noise/sharpness and slight crop.

What I learned

Colors on rainy days have a particular quality, they seem brighter, more saturated because of the air having been cleared of dusts and because of contrast with blue-gray sky.

D 148 - Staircase-Well

Peculiarity of staircases in my block is that they are in the middle of the building without any outside windows. It isn't a problem until the electricity shuts down. Then it turns into a parade of Will-o'-Wisps when people try to get in or out of their homes.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD1442.
RAW file developed in Lightroom.

D 147 - Creepy Guards

Ivy planted at a poplar trunk.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD4015.
RAW developed in Lightroom; corrected contrast, sharpness and added green b/w filter.

What I learned

The same story happened to me twice this weekend: I shot a frame, thought I could correct it and shot some more photos. Than while choosing which photos to post I went for the first attempts in both series. I liked them the most.

D 146 - Dandelions O.M.G.

I spotted this field while on a short bike trip, then I fetched my camera and went back to get the photo.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD4015 (a strange lens for such a shot, I know).
RAW file developed in Lightroom: red filter, stronger contrast, sharpening.

What I learned

I was without a tripod and day was rather cloudy, so at f/16 and 40mm (80mm after crop) I wasn't able to get this sharp as I went down to 1/6 exposure time. In effect, the trees on horizon and the rock and the first row of dandelions are slightly out of focus.
I do tend to neglect the fact how much longer I need to expose to get proper photos at small apertures. Tripod isn't that heavy, is it?

If I used wider lens, than the DOF would get bigger and the trees on horizon would become apparently smaller, but the rock would grow too big.

D 145 - Sunset +

Sunset on an overcast day.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD1442.
RAW file edited in Lightroom (levels and split toning with bright parts reinforced with purple.

D 144 - The Entrance

Entrance to a staircase of my building just pass the sunset.

Equipment

E510 with Pentacon 30mm.
RAW file edited in Lightroom.

What I learned

I've hit the invisible wall again. I can't think of any good photo and I can't see interesting frames around me. Frankly those are some photos from last week, because I didn't make anything I'd like to see on this blog for two days.

D 143 - Bird Receivers

The same location as the last time. There are patches of satellite dishes every few dozens meters on the backyard walls of the mansions.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD4015.
Developed from RAW in Lightroom.

D 142 - Running Down the Gutter

A gutter and a walking path all-in-one. This is a place running 3 meters below street level just next to my block. It is situated between a row of mansions and a thin parked passage. The neighborhood is quite shady.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD4015.
Developed from RAW in Lightroom using Green color filter.

What I learned

This is a second photo for the last few days when I choose to brighten the leaves with a green filter effect. It takes the scene somewhat away from realism. But this is for the better.
I look at my photos and I must admit that the subjects which I chose are not extraordinary. They are mostly mundane objects and scenes. The only way I can make them into interesting photographs is to capture unusual lighting or perspective.
Filters are the third tool which can add "interestingness" to a photo. It changes the way light is present in the scene.

D 141 - Bark

A damaged tree trunk.

Equipment

E-510 with Pentacon 30mm.

What I learned

In dispersed light of overcast day I found it extremely difficult to isolate this trunk from the background. Too small contrasts of the whole scene and similar colors of the object and background. Even wide open aperture didn't solve the problem. It wasn't the clutter in the background - it was the color (or the tone to be precise).

D 140 - Canine Communicating

Village raised dog is trying to get his way with the city guys.

Equipment

E-510 with Pentacon 30mm.
RAW file developed in Lightroom.

What I learned

I have a constant problem with standard focal length lens. The ones I can afford to own are manual prime lens or kit zoom lens. The first group needs to be focused very precisely if it is to be used at largest apertures, because of small depth of field and the kit zoom is too dark - having maximal aperture about f/5 at standard focal lengths.

D 139 - Rememberance

There has been a controversial initiative proposed for this year, to honor Soviet soldiers fallen in 1945 during the march for Berlin of the Red Army.

As the Polish Prime Minister said although they released us from Nazi occupation they didn't bring us freedom because they didn't have any themselves.

Equipment

E-510 with Pentacon 30mm.
Usual Lightroom edit from RAW.

What I learned

With a small viefinder of Olympus Evolt line and manual lens I had problems with focusing on the first tombs and gradually going soft towards the end of the line.

D 138 - Boring Photo

A little surprising detail in a neglected mansion just few hundred meters from my home.

Equipment

E-510 with Pentacon 30mm.
Usual edit in Lightroom.

What I learned

I'm a voyeur in denial. I love to enter dark yards of neglected (but not necessarily abandoned) mansions at night or to capture little insights into other peoples' homes while walking down a street and wonder how their homes are like.

Sometimes it translates into really good photographic opportunities. Of course I don't feel tempted to photograph naked people through the windows. It is more about exploring possibilities of other lives, getting beyond my personal circumstances of life, as seen through the places people live in.

D 137 - Leaning out

Another forced perspective from my balcony.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD1442.
In Lightroom: levels, blue filter, sharpness, noise, little crop to remove some distractions at the bottom and left edges of the frame.

What I learned

Photos don't have to be straight to be O.K.

D 136 - Soul Trap

A disfigured tree in the park.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD1442.
In Lightroom: levels, clarity, noise, contrast.

What I learned

I walked around this tree which struck me to have a growth which looked like a face from a distance. I shot at least 8 photos to capture it and it still doesn't look as suggestive as it did in reality. I probably missed a tele lens for this one.

D 135 - Bottoms up

And there I have it at last. Satisfying photo using a pattern. It's shot through a large wine glass pointed at window blinds.

Equipment

E-510 with Pentacon 30.
In Lightroom: graduated filter (desaturate), levels, clarity, noise, sharpness and certain crop which moved the focal point closer to the golden section.

What I learned

Experimenting does not contradict thinking twice before pressing the shutter. Less is more.

D 134 - Generation Again

My son loves to climb on the desk under this window and watch the cars, clouds or planes. I'll be anti-climatic to inform that he usually laughs and shouts to me about whatever he sees down there. He was not even sad when I took this photo.

Equipment

w810i
In Lightroom corrected: levels (strengthening blacks), decreased saturation, split toning, sharpness and noise.

What I learned

Again the same conclusion: it isn't the lens or matrix that makes good photos.